Manual VMware VM restore for vRanger 7.x (4033004)

Sometimes vRanger runs into a VMware VM restore issue and nothing can be done to resolve it at that time.

If the VMware VM needs to be restored immediately and there is not enough time to troubleshoot the restore issue, you can manually restore the VMware VM.

Please follow these steps to perform a manual VMware VM restore.

1. Provide the customer the VMDKExtractor7.x.zip which contains the vRanger manual restore utility.
2. Set the execution policy. - Open PowerShell and run the following command: Set-ExecutionPolicy remotesigned
3. Create a new VM on the ESX(i) host. The drive(s) should be the same size as the original. The sizes can be found in the VMconfig.metadata file. If the original VM contained snapshots when it was backed up, you will need to create the same number of snapshots (if a VM was backed up from an ESX host each snapshot file will have it's own var file, if the VM was backed up from an ESXi host all the snapshots are rolled into the based disks upon backup and you will only have a var file for each disk only).
4. Within the Powerhell window, change directories to the directory that contains the VMDKExtractor7.0.ps1. Open the utility by executing the following command .\VMDKExtractor7.x.ps1 .
5. Select the var file to extract by clicking on the 3 dot button next to select var file
6. Provide a name and a destination for the -flat.vmdk (base disk) or -delta.vmdk (snapshot disk) file that will be extracted (Using the same name as the created VM is recommended, ex. VM-flat.vmdk or VM-00000X-delta.vmdk).
7. Click Extract vmdk.
8. Once the extraction is complete the Close button will change to Finish.
9. Verify that the newly extracted vmdk file matches the name of the virtual disk of the newly created VM, if it does not rename the vmdk file to match the name of the newly created VM before going to the next step.
10. Use a tool like WinSCP to upload the extracted -flat.vmdk or -delta.vmdk to the directory that contains the newly created VM. You are replacing the -flat.vmdk or -delta.vmdk that was created during the new VM creation.
11. Repeat these steps for all the drives and or snapshots that are needed for the restore.
12. After all the drives have been restored and uploaded to the ESX(i) host, power on the VM. It should be fully operational.